# Kos International Airport

Kos International Airport "Ippokratis" (Greek: Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Κω "Ιπποκρατης"; named for Hippocrates) (IATA: KGS, ICAO: LGKO) is an international airport on the island of Kos in Greece. It is located near Antimachia Village, and is operated by Fraport AG.
The airport mainly serves charter airlines, who bring customers on holiday to the island. Kos Airport hits its peak in summer, with flights from German and British airlines primarily.

## History

The airport was opened on 4 April 1964. In 1974, the runway was extended to 2,400 metres. Due to increased traffic at the airport, a new terminal was built in 1980. In 1997, the terminal building was renovated and expanded.
In December 2015, the privatisation of Kos Island International Airport and 13 other regional airports of Greece was finalised with the signing of the agreement between the Fraport AG/Copelouzos Group joint venture and the state privatisation fund. "We signed the deal today," the head of Greece's privatisation agency HRADF, Stergios Pitsiorlas, told Reuters. According to the agreement, the joint venture will operate the 14 airports (including Kos Island International Airport) for 40 years as of 11 April 2017.
On 22 March 2017, Fraport AG and its Greek subsidiary Fraport Greece presented its plans for 14 regional airports that they had been handed control of by the Greek Government. The immediate actions by Fraport were to improve lighting, improve the marking of airside areas, upgrade sanitary facilities, enhance WiFi services and implementing better fire safety throughout the airport.
The long-term plans by the operator, which initially were to continue until 2021, included the building of a new terminal and a new fire station, and the refurbishment of the waste water treatment plant The new terminal provides significantly more check-in desks and security check lanes.

## Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Kos Airport:
| Airlines | Destinations |
| Aegean Airlines | Athens, Thessaloniki Seasonal: Heraklion (begins 2 June 2025) |
| Aer Lingus | Seasonal: Dublin |
| airBaltic | Seasonal: Riga |
| Air Serbia | Seasonal charter: Belgrade |
| Arkia | Seasonal: Tel Aviv |
| Austrian Airlines | Seasonal: Vienna |
| Bluebird Airways | Seasonal: Tel Aviv |
| Braathens International Airways | Seasonal charter: Gothenburg, Stockholm-Arlanda |
| British Airways | Seasonal: London–Gatwick |
| Brussels Airlines | Seasonal: Brussels |
| Buzz | Seasonal charter: Katowice |
| Chair Airlines | Seasonal: Zürich |
| Condor | Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Stuttgart, Zürich |
| Corendon Airlines | Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Nuremberg |
| Corendon Dutch Airlines | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Brussels, Maastricht/Aachen |
| Discover Airlines | Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich |
| easyJet | Seasonal: Berlin, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, London–Gatwick, Lyon, Manchester, Milan–Malpensa, Naples, Venice |
| Edelweiss Air | Seasonal: Zürich |
| Enter Air | Seasonal charter: Gdańsk, Katowice, Warsaw–Chopin |
| European Air Charter | Seasonal charter: Linz |
| Eurowings | Seasonal: Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, Dusseldorf, Graz, Hamburg, Innsbruck, Linz (begins 11 May 2025), Nuremberg Salzburg, Stuttgart |
| Helvetic Airways | Seasonal: Bern, Zürich |
| Jet2.com | Seasonal: Birmingham, Bournemouth (begins 29 July 2026), Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Leav Aviation | Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn |
| Lufthansa | Seasonal: Frankfurt |
| Luxair | Seasonal: Luxembourg |
| Marabu | Seasonal: Hamburg, Munich |
| Neos | Seasonal: Bergamo, Bologna, Milan–Malpensa, Verona |
| Ryanair | Seasonal: Bari, Bergamo, Berlin, Bologna, Dublin, London–Stansted, Milan–Malpensa, Pisa, Rome–Fiumicino, Treviso, Vienna, Weeze, Zagreb |
| Scandinavian Airlines | Seasonal charter: Copenhagen, Oslo, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda |
| Sky Express | Astypalaia, Athens, Heraklion, Kalymnos, Leros, Rhodes Seasonal: Amsterdam Seasonal charter: Bratislava, Weeze |
| SmartLynx Airlines | Seasonal charter: Münster/Osnabrück |
| Smartwings | Seasonal: Bratislava, Brno, Ostrava, Prague, Warsaw–Chopin |
| Sunclass Airlines | Seasonal charter: Oslo |
| Sundair | Seasonal: Berlin, Bremen, Dresden |
| Swiss International Air Lines | Seasonal: Geneva |
| Trade Air | Seasonal charter: Ljubljana |
| Transavia | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Paris–Orly, Rotterdam/The Hague |
| TUI Airways | Seasonal: Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dublin, East Midlands, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne |
| TUI fly Belgium | Seasonal: Brussels |
| TUI fly Deutschland | Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart |
| TUI fly Netherlands | Seasonal: Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen, Rotterdam |
| Wizz Air | Seasonal: Rome–Fiumicino |

## Statistics

The data are from Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) until 2016 and from 2017 onwards from the official website of the airport.
* Year
* Passengers
* Domestic
* International
* Total
* 1994
* 125,215
* 1,130,052
* 1,255,267
* 1995
* 141,283
* 1,015,148
* 1,156,431
* 1996
* 150,271
* 892,154
* 1,042,425
* 1997
* 153,151
* 1,006,424
* 1,159,575
* 1998
* 145,312
* 1,044,604
* 1,189,916
* 1999
* 169,650
* 1,274,656
* 1,444,306
* 2000
* 217,876
* 1,360,280
* 1,578,156
* 2001
* 200,614
* 1,440,986
* 1,641,600
* 2002
* 177,003
* 1,321,099
* 1,498,102
* 2003
* 183,821
* 1,278,862
* 1,462,683
* 2004
* 247,758
* 1,256,941
* 1,504,699
* 2005
* 255,077
* 1,207,698
* 1,462,775
* 2006
* 251,610
* 1,321,507
* 1,573,117
* 2007
* 272,271
* 1,369,410
* 1,641,681
* 2008
* 264,276
* 1,351,177
* 1,615,453
* 2009
* 260,347
* 1,257,599
* 1,517,946
* 2010
* 231,057
* 1,396,183
* 1,627,240
* 2011
* 220,921
* 1,705,302
* 1,926,223
* 2012
* 192,043
* 1,605,458
* 1,797,501
* 2013
* 175,422
* 1,853,196
* 2,028,618
* 2014
* 189,750
* 2,024,714
* 2,214,464
* 2015
* 201,000
* 1,942,860
* 2,143,860
* 2016
* 205,695
* 1,695,800
* 1,901,495
* 2017
* 234,023
* 2,086,567
* 2,320,590
* 2018
* 271,725
* 2,394,582
* 2,666,307
* 2019
* 284,948
* 2.391,696
* 2.676,644
* 2020
* 134.392
* 666.263
* 800.655
* 2021
* 174,028
* 1,400,490
* 1,574,518
* 2022
* 263,900
* 2,527,690
* 2,791,590
* 2023
* 305,775
* 2,648,944
* 2,954,719
* 2024
* 326.182
* 2.743.477
* 3.069.659

### Traffic statistics by country (2024)

Traffic by country at Kos International Airport – 2024 :
| Rank | Country | Total passengers |
| 1 | United Kingdom | 768.252 |
| 2 | Germany | 712.243 |
| 3 | Greece | 326.182 |
| 4 | Poland | 225.477 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 225.048 |
| 6 | Italy | 163.766 |
| 7 | Belgium | 102.682 |
| 8 | Switzerland | 99.531 |
| 9 | Czech Republic | 90.737 |
| 10 | Austria | 88.092 |
| 11 | France | 47.808 |
| 12 | Sweden | 44.941 |
| 13 | Denmark | 32.503 |
| 14 | Ireland | 30.877 |
| 15 | Israel | 28.890 |

## Ground transport

By public bus: A transit bus service operates between the airport and Kos town, Mastichari, Kardamena and Kefalos.
By tour operator transfer: Tour operators such as Jet2holidays and TUI UK provide free bus transfers from customers' accommodation to the airport.
By taxi: 24/7 metered taxi service is available outside the Kos Airport Terminal building.
By car: Kos Airport is located 24 km from the Kos town and is accessible from the provincial road Kos-Kefalos.

## Accidents and incidents

* In 2013, an Air Explore Boeing 737 made an emergency landing due to the left engine overheating. Once it taxied to the gate, the engine caught fire. The pilot ordered an evacuation using the emergency slides on either side of the aircraft. No one was injured during the incident.